Live updates

The US has "gravely violated" basic norms over relations between China and the US, after President Obama granted an audience to Tibet's Dalai Lama yesterday. In a statement from China's foreign ministry reiterated its view that no country has a right to interfere in its internal affairs:

Tibet is a sacred and inalienable part of China. Tibet-related affairs fall entirely within the internal affairs of China which allow no foreign interference. The Dalai Lama is a political exile who has long been engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion.

We urge the US side to take China's concerns seriously, cease to connive and support anti-China separatist forces that seek "Tibet independence", stop interfering in China's internal affairs and take immediate steps to remove the adverse impact so as to avoid further damage to China-US relations.

China has urged the US to scrap plans for President Barack Obama to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today, warning that the planned meeting would "seriously damage" ties between the countries.

Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama at the White House is a "gross interference" in China's internal affairs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on the ministry's website.

"We will continue to urge the Chinese government to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, as a means to reduce tensions," Hayden said in a statement announcing the 10am (1500 GMT) meeting.